Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#6 – Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello had such a good 80s run that my #6 album of 1986 was just his second-best release that year. I’ll get to the other one next week.
After a series of genre exercises (country, baroque pop, 60s soul, New Wave, Americana), Blood & Chocolate was a muscular rock-n-roll album, Costello’s first since 19878’s This Year’s Model. When Costello snarls out the album’s title in the opening moments of first track ‘Uncomplicated’ to the strains of an aggressive electric guitar, you know you’re in for a wild ride.
This is the album that features the epic jealous screed ‘I Want You,’ one of Costello’s most emotionally raw recordings. And then there’s the jaunty ‘Blue Chair,’ that song’s spiritual opposite, in which Costello graciously steps aside to make room for his lover’s new beau.
‘Battered Old Bird’ is another grand statement, clocking in at just under six minutes and offering a sadly surreal tour of Costello’s childhood.
The songs I return to the most are the lighter ones, like the catchy closing track ‘Next Time Round’ or the buoyant ‘Crimes of Paris,’ an underrated tune that boasts one of Costello’s most memorable choruses.
I thought it was you with your optimist’s view of the clock
And how it’s always another day
Just after twelve o’clock’s struck
Said “Now I only want you so I don’t have to promise”
But tiny children in grown-up clothes whispered all the Crimes of Paris
[Chorus]
You’re not the girl next door or a girl from France
Or the cigarette girl in the sizzle hot pants
All the words of love seem cruel and crass
When you’re tough and transparent as armoured glass
You’re everywhere girl in an everyday mess
Who’ll pay for the Crimes of Paris
[Verse 2]
I heard that you fell for the “Hell or to Hammersmith Blues”
In the tiny torn up pieces of his mind, he’s irresistible too
It’s hard to say now if he’s only stupid or is smart
As he crawled through the door
And poured out more of his creeping Jesus heart
[Chorus]
You’re not the girl next door or a girl from France
Or the cigarette girl in the sizzle hot pants
All the words of love seem cruel and crass
When you’re tough and transparent as armoured glass
You’re everywhere girl in an everyday mess
Who’ll pay for the Crimes of Paris
[Bridge]
And it’s all here and now
She hits him with that paper weight Eiffel Tower
And I tried to hold on to you, but I don’t know how
And I find it hard to swallow good advice
Like going down three times to only come up twice
Come up twice
[Verse 4]
She’s so convenient, he’s always stiff as hair-lacquer
It’s hard to discover now he’s in love with her
It was her way of getting her own back
He never did anything she couldn’t do on her own
You’re as good as your word and that’s no good to her
You’d better leave that kitten alone
[Chorus]
She’s not the girl next door or a girl from France
Or the cigarette girl in the sizzle hot pants
All the words of love seem cruel and crass
When you’re tough and transparent as armoured glass
You’re everywhere girl in an everyday mess
Who’ll pay for the crimes of Paris
Who’ll pay for the crimes of Paris
Who’s gonna pay for the crimes of Paris
Who’ll pay for the crimes of Paris
You’re gonna pay for the crimes of Paris
Who’s gonna pay for the crimes of Paris
Meet Me In Montauk 
I initially had eschewed this album in favor of other EC records, mostly because I wasn’t a big fan of the hard-edged opener and had built up in my mind that the rest of the album sounded the same. It was years later, probably based on your praise and also having heard a bonus alternate version of “Blue Chair,” that I decided to move past the opener “Uncomplicated” and I was rewarded with the great songs you mention here.